1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor devices including an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and driving circuits for the semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Background Art
An exemplary semiconductor device with an additional control PMOS transistor for developing a short circuit during turn-OFF between the base and emitter of a PNP bipolar transistor included in an N-type IGBT is disclosed in “The Fast Turn Off Advanced IGBT, a New Device Concept”, the 6th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices & IC's, 1994, by H. P. Yee, P. O. Lauritzen and Robert B. Darling (pp.63–67).
However, it has been difficult even in such structure with the additional control PMOS transistor to drive its IGBT while maintaining low effective ON resistance and low switching loss.